Sweep of Dawgs for FHS baseball: 11-1
It was a one-two punch — strong pitching and opportunistic hitting — for Farragut High School’s baseball team at home on John Heatherly Field Monday night, March 25.
The 11-1 six-inning, run-ruled win over archrival Bearden kept the Admirals perfect (5-0) in District 4-4A. Their overall record improved to 9-4. All four losses came two weeks ago against top competition in Florida on Spring Break.
The Bulldogs fell to 8-4, 1-2.
“Our pitchers were pretty dominant,” Admirals skipper Matt Buckner said. “Our offense hit ’em with a big inning early on. We’re capable of hitting in spurts. We have a pretty deep lineup.”
After Admirals’ starting pitcher Cole Draper had a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, FHS put the game away with a six-run outburst in the bottom half of the inning.
Shortstop Lukas Buckner’s leadoff double was followed by right-fielder Landis Davila’s walk. Both then scored on second baseman Jake Merrick’s triple. Merrick then scored when third baseman Eli Evans doubled.
Centerfield Brennon Seigler bunted safely to first, and first baseman Michael Delph was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Catcher Gavin Brewer followed with a single that scored Evans and Seigler and made it 5-0.
Left fielder Charlie Bozeman’s sac-fly to right scored Delph and completed the opening frame’s scoring.
“They put up six on the board (in the first),” Dawgs head coach Dave Prichard said. “Four of those hitters had two strikes and they find a way to get two-strike hits. That’s what good teams do.”
Draper went four innings, giving up three hits and an an earned run. He struck out four, walked one and hit a batter. “He’s been fantastic,” Buckner said of his starter. “He was good today; he was pretty tough to hit.”
Delph threw two perfect innings in relief. “The way our offense was working … our offense jumped on them early,” Delph said. “It’s easy to pitch with a lead. Such a blessing beating them last week then getting to close out the game.”
Bearden’s lone run came in the fourth when Cameron Cooper’s double scored Matt Schroeffel.
The Admirals closed it out in the sixth when Davila made it to third on an error, followed by a walk to Merrick. Three straight doubles — by Evans, Seigler and Delph — made it 10-1. Pinch runner Benny Miller, running for Delph, scored the game-ending run on Brewer’s single.
“Throughout our order we have a lot of weapons,” coach Buckner said. “When they all put some at-bats together we’re pretty hard to handle.”
The Ads totaled 14 hits to only three for BHS. “We’re kind of in a slump right now at the plate and we gotta figure that out,” Prichard said. “We’re trying to play the long season; we have a lot of baseball left.”
